It could be days or even weeks before we know what caused the crash of a vintage military jet in Iowa last weekend that took the life of a Frisco man.


Glenn Smith died when Soviet-era trainer he was piloting crashed during an air show.

Smith and best friend Jim Wilson have aircraft stored in private hangars on the south side of the Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney. Wilson said Smith was a meticulous pilot who he trusted with his own life.
“I can’t bear to look at it,” Wilson says of the crash video. He hasn’t looked at the video that took his friend’s life, but he has talked to Glenn Smith’s flying partners and so far, no one can explain what happened.
“He was guy who crossed every “T” and dotted every “I.” He knew everything about his airplane,” says Wilson.

Witnesses say there was no mayday or distress call. The aircraft veered off and went toward the ground at a 45-degree angle.

Wilson can’t explain it, either. “We’re all human and we don’t know what happened but Glenn was one of the few gentlemen in 42 years of flying that I’d crawl in an airplane with without reservation.”

An aerial photographer, Wilson says Smith’s passion was jet powered warbirds, especially those from the “other side.” He was flying a Czechoslova when he died.

“He had just finished restoring a Korean era Mig-17 to probably the finest condition of any airplane of its type in the wo.